Chapter 51
A young and childish voice suddenly sounded, like the first ripe fruit of the summer: sweet and clean and crisp.
Zheng Biyu followed the voice.
The clamor outside the door had stopped at some point. The door was opened, and a youth wearing a misty-colored round-collared brocade robe and a lotus flower jade crown walked in.
When the youth approached, Zheng Biyu found that the other party turned out to be a delicate and charming, bright and beautiful, young girl with skin glowing like snow.
The young girl walked up to Madam Zhao and greeted her, saying: “Greetings, Old Madam. Old Madam, you have just been frightened. Do not blame me, I have asked the outsiders to leave the ancestral hall and they will not come again.”
Old Madam Zhao looked at the young lady dumbly.
The young lady looked at Ah Luo who was crying her heart out: “Big sister is at such a good age. Does Old Madam really have the heart to have her buried with the Zhao family?”
Madam Zhao looked down at Ah Luo, and the two, grandmother and grandchild, cried on each others’ shoulders.
The young lady said, “Rest assured, Old Madam. I will stand guard here today. No one will dare slight you all.”
She gestured to the attendants behind her.
The attendants entered the room, collected the poisoned wine in front of all the ladies, and withdrew respectfully.
The young lady also went out, and the attendants brought in an armchair. She lifted the corner of her robe and sat down on it in a grand manner, but her toes were hanging in mid-air, not reaching the ground.
She coughed.
An attendant moved the stool at her feet. The young lady placed her feet on it and sat upright.
Outside the tall walls, the shouting and killing of soldiers were everywhere. The night was dark, the smoke swelled and surged, and the young lady sat until the middle of the night.
From time to time, soldiers rushed into the ancestral hall with lewd and sinister smiles on their faces. The attendant of the young lady would immediately go forward: “The noble lady is here. Who dares to be impudent?”
The soldiers were so frightened that they turned around and ran away.
In the middle of the night, there was the chaotic sound of footsteps outside the door, and a group of burly soldiers surrounding a young man holding a golden hammer came in.
The young man was tall and strong, his muscles taut under his military uniform, and he strode up to the young lady.
The women of the Zhao family in the ancestral hall saw the visitor and uncontrollably shivered.
Zheng Biyu recognized the youth. The Li family’s young overlord who killed people like flies, whose notoriety spread far and wide. The Zhao family’s youngest son died under his twin hammers.
Li Zhongqian made a beeline to the promenade, covered in blood and full of hostility. But when he spoke, it was in a gentle tone: “What are you doing here?”
The young lady stood up, “Brother, you’re injured?”
Li Zhongqian casually wiped the blood on his sleeve: “Other people’s blood…. It is a complete mess here. Do not stay here, I have asked Xie Chao to send you back.”
The young lady shook her head, “The Zhao family’s women are all in the ancestral hall. I have to guard them.”
Zheng Biyu thought that Li Zhongqian would reprimand the young lady for making trouble. However, he did not say a word of rebuke. He nodded his head and ordered his men, “Xie Chao stays here. Whoever dares to contradict qiniang will be killed.”
After giving a few instructions, Li Zhongqian left in a hurry with his bloodstained hammers.
The young lady then sat back on the armchair and kept watch until dawn.
The next day, Zheng Biyu left, following the people sent by the Zheng family to pick her up.
Later, her mother told her that the Zhao family’s women had preserved their chastity and did not attempt to commit suicide. Furthermore, the Li family did not exterminate the Zhao family. They gave back the Zhao family’s old residence and their servants, allowing them to settle back in their ancestral home.
….
Zheng Biyu finished recalling past events and looked at Li Xuanzhen.
“Your Highness, the Seventh Princess saved the Zhao family women but never brought this matter up. Later, she also saved the women of the Lu family, the Lu family1, and the Sun family…
“That year when I gave birth and Your Highness was away on a campaign, rebels were roaming the city walls and blocking the city gates. The city was in a state of panic, but the eleven-year-old Seventh Princess sent someone to take care of me and the other women and children. She herself climbed the city walls with her guards to persuade and deter the rebels.”
Zheng Biyu would never forget the heavy and depressing atmosphere of despair in the city at that time, the feeling when a great disaster was imminent.
The residence was a complete mess. Li De’s concubines could only cry, and there were some who were fussing to surrender. Li Yaoying issued an order to behead the inside man who was going to open the city gate. Gathering the city’s men and horses using her identity as the Li family’s noble lady, she guarded the city walls for more than ten days.
After Zheng Biyu gave birth, she gritted her teeth and got out of bed, intending to also go to the city walls to keep watch. She was Li Xuanzhen’s wife and could not let Li Zhongqian’s younger sister make too much of a splash.
When the maid supported her under the wall, she raised her head and saw the young girl on the wall, dressed in hunting clothes and bathed in the bright and scorching sun, and suddenly remembered the scene when she first saw Li Yaoying.
After marrying Li Xuanzhen, Zheng Biyu had asked Li Yaoying, “Why did qiniang save the Zhao family’s women when you had nothing to do with them?”
Li Yaoying said carelessly, “It’s just a matter of raising my hand.”
Zheng Biyu was the daughter of a noble family, sober and sensible. Married to Li Xuanzhen, she single-mindedly planned for him. Zhu Luyun’s tossing and suffering, so what? She would always be Li Xuanzhen’s rightful wife.
A calculating Zheng Biyu stood under the wall, raised her head, looking at Li Yaoying’s petite but determined figure, stunned for half a day2. She turned around and went back to her room.
Zheng Biyu knew that qiniang was not attracting hearts and minds for Li Zhongqian. She merely wanted to protect the people of the city and the women and children of the Li family.
Just as she protected the women of the Zhao family, similarly women with no strength, why not help when she could give a hand to save the other party from the tragic fate of being violated?
Glistening tears surfaced in Zheng Biyu’s eyes.
“Your Highness asked why this concubine spoke for the Seventh Princess. The reason is simple: because this concubine still had a little conscience.”
Li Xuanzhen closed his eyes, his hands shaking slightly, and the veins on his forehead rippled: “She was the one who came to beg me! She was the one who came to me for a deal! She is the daughter of the Xie clan, and her death is unrelated to me!”
Zheng Biyu looked at Li Xuanzhen, whose eyes were tightly shut and whose expression was vaguely crazed, and let out a long sigh.
“Dalang…. you will regret it.”
“No!” Li Xuanzhen’s eyes flew open, dark currents surging within his pupils, “I will not regret.”
Never.
….
Two days later, news came back from the flying cavalry.
They found Li Zhongqian. Li Zhongqian was still in a coma, with only five or six guards left around. Although the situation was critical, it was not life-threatening.
The flying cavalry team had already taken Li Zhongqian and were on their way back.
Li Xuanzhen had someone send the news to the wangfu.
Yaoying had just recovered from her lethargicness. Clutching the letter, tears fell in succession.
Elder brother was still alive.
As long as her brother came back safely, she was no longer afraid of anything.
The messenger reminded Yaoying, “Your Highness, the Chief Historian said it was time for you to keep your promise.”
Yaoying clutched the news, brushed away the tears at the corners of her eyes, and gave a faint ‘en’.
Three days later, there was a banquet held in the palace where Li De once again invited Chief Yelu and other tribal leaders and sons of kings. All the envoys, cabinet ministers, concubines of the harem, and influential and prominent families attended the banquet.
The palace sent its guards to fetch Yaoying for the banquet.
Yaoying, dressed in fancy attire, stepped into the carriage with the help of Xie Qing, holding the bright moon pearl tightly in her hand.